


Then the world explodes

by aces_low



Series: drabbles and ish [11]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Canon Era, Canon typical injuries, Episode: s01e07 The Breaking Point, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 22:53:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aces_low/pseuds/aces_low
Summary: Joe has just been hit. Bill tries to save him. It's the Breaking Point.





	Then the world explodes

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt for Toye/Guarnere "confessing love while the partner hearing it is in peril"

Joe’s ears are ringing.

There’s pain in his stomach, ripping through the skin and muscle and bone, making it hard for him to catch his breath.

But that’s nothing compared to looking down at his leg. One half separated from the rest by snow and blood. His blood.

It takes several seconds, or maybe hours, for him to realize that it’s no longer a part of him, just a piece, taken like an offering to this frozen forest.

A strange thought flits across his mind, _shouldn’ta even worried about the trench foot_ , rushes in then leaves. Just as quickly, he realizes he needs to get up. They’ll be back, and he’s defenseless, injured, confused, with just one leg.

Useless.

He crawls, not really sure which way he should be headed, just away from that limb, away from the blood soaked into the snow. It doesn’t help, the blood just follows.

He needs help. Should call out. Realizes he’s already speaking, maybe even screaming.

He feels detached from himself, like his leg. His body, his mind, they’re separate from him. And he’s alone out here.

Suddenly, it’s not just his voice yelling out, there’s another, this one saying his name.

Someone is calling out to him and he can’t go.

There are hands now, grabbing and lifting and pulling at him. He tries to struggle, but then the voice is back and he knows that voice. He knows these hands.

He looks up to see Bill, dragging him across the ground, trying to pull him to safety. His mind is reeling, but it eventually slows down enough for him to understand how unsafe this is. They’re playing right into the Kraut’s hands, out in the open like this, Bill isn’t safe.

“What’re you doing?” he’s able to ask, tugging at Bill’s sleeve.

“Gettin’ you outta here.”

Joe couldn’t stop himself from getting hit (again), and now, if they don’t find a foxhole soon, it’s going to cost him his best friend.

“Just leave it, Bill, leave me, get to a foxhole.”

“I ain’t leavin’ you, Joe.”

“You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

Bill huffs, straining against Joe’s weight as he continues to pull.

He hears another voice in the distance. Buck’s, maybe, screaming at them to move, to get down. Joe wishes Bill would just drop him and run. He grabs Bill’s arm just a little tighter.

“We’re almost there, Joe, we’re almost there.”

“Why?” he asks, the strain in his voice making it harder to hear over the sounds going off around them.

“Because I love you, you stubborn, sonuvabitch,” Bill yells over the scream of guns.

Then the world explodes, again.


End file.
